Monday, January 22, 2007

cashmere skaska warm shawl

I finally "officially" finished - read blocked- my skaska warm scarf. I am still having a terrible time photographing it! I was surprised at how much give the cashmere had - it gained 3" x amost 6" with the blocking and the feel of the yarn totally changed. It plumped up and really softened up. I am so pleased and now I can go back to wearing the scarf while it is still cold. I will be casting on for my EZ pie are square shawl soon!

Have a great week!

note - sorry, I did not give much information about this shawl, so here are all the detail that I omitted. This shawl was from a russian lace knitting class that I took from Galina Skaska. I am sure the pattern is in one of her books, but I do not know which one. It is knit out of two strands of lace weight cashmere on a size two needle. The pattern called for a size three needle on a single strand, but I wanted a warm functional piece. The best part of knitting this shawl/scarf is that the border was knit onto the piece as you went, so when you were done with the shawl, there were 8 stitches to graft and an end to weave. Her method for turning the corners with borders using short rows, just like socks, is so great, I am now re-writing another shawl pattern so that I can knit it in one piece as well. She also taught us how to block a shawl using nylon cord through all the points to make it easier, which was a huge help with all the points on this shawl. I hope that helps. I am very excited to be taking another lace class from Galina at the Lace Symposium in Denver in April you can check it out here - it looks like a great group of classes and teachers!www.milehighlaceknitting.com

That's a fantastic scarf. And if I was anywhere near Denver I'd take the class but I live in the UK. Lived in Colorado Springs, CO fora year 20 years ago though. Was at highschool for a year as a foreign exchange student. Loved it.